Skyzoo

Born Gregory Skyler Taylor in 1982 in Crown Heights, he grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant. He was nicknamed Skyzoo by his parents after the Skyy disco song (his middle name is Skyler). He began rapping at the age... More >

Biography

Born Gregory Skyler Taylor in 1982 in Crown Heights, he grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant. He was nicknamed Skyzoo by his parents after the Skyy disco song (his middle name is Skyler). He began rapping at the age of nine and went on to work with producers Jay Dee and 9th Wonder, releasing several mixtapes in the hope of securing a record deal. He was beaten by Jin on BET's 106 & Park freestyle contest, but went on to have tracks used as both the theme to ESPN's Whiplash TV and the soundtrack to a Guinness advert, and set up his own Custom Made Entertainment company.

Gregory Skyler Taylor (born December 24, 1982), better known by his stage name Skyzoo, is an American rapper from Brooklyn, NY. He rose to prominence in 2006, with a collaborative EP entitled Cloud 9: The 3 Day High, with Grammy award winning producer 9th Wonder. The project reportedly took a total of three days to complete from start to finish. The EP became an underground favorite and garnered Skyzoo media write ups in outlets such as XXL, The Source, Vibe, AllHipHop.com, HipHopDX.com, HipHopGame.com and more.

In 2009, Skyzoo signed to independent staple Duck Down Records, and his debut album The Salvation was released in 2009 with the singles, "The Beautiful Decay", "Popularity", "Easy To Fly", and "My Interpretation" The album debuted at number 14 on the Billboard Hip Hop charts, and was critically acclaimed upon its release. To date it's heralded amongst the Hip Hop community as a classic debut album, and has been labeled one of the few great debut Hip Hop releases of the 2000 decade (along with Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, and 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Trying). In the fall of 2010, Skyzoo released another collaborative EP, this time teaming up with beat smith Illmind, for what would become Live from the Tape Deck. The project also received critical acclaim for its dense lyricism and producer Illmind's synth heavy and analog-esque production. Skyzoo has also released a plethora of free online mix tapes throughout the course of his career, usually in between studio album releases, and has toured with the likes of Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Pharoahe Monch, Black Moon, Sean Price, and Smif-n-Wessun, as well as headlined shows and tours throughout the US, Toronto, Hong Kong, and Beijing.